Bakers on a Mission

Make a Donation Now

Donations to Greyston support our unique model as a leading social enterprise. Your support provides needed resources to the individuals and families who participate in our extensive programs and social services. They are vitally important in ensuring that our community development work is sustainable, that our growth is real, and that our programs run smoothly. When you make a donation, 88 cents of each dollar you give directly supports our program activities.

We partnered up with one of our favorite “do good” organizations, Bright Endeavors, who provide job training to at risk women, to create a custom chocolate fudge brownie candle as delicious as our brownies. The Bright Future Gift Box includes (6) brownies and a 4oz chocolate fudge brownie candle.

We searched high and low to find the most delicious hot cocoa and caramel to complement our decadent brownies! Treat someone special to our basket filled with (16) outrageous brownies, a jar of delicious creamy caramel and a tin of dark chocolate hot cocoa mix!

Mission & History

Greyston’s Mission

We create thriving communities through the practice and promotion of Open Hiring™.

Our History

Greyston has a more than 30 year history that’s grounded in a philosophy to better our community and the lives within it. This philosophy permeates everything that we do and has helped to make Greyston the force of socially conscious purpose that it is today.

In the 1980s, our founder, Roshi Bernie Glassman recognized that employment is the gateway out of poverty and towards self-sufficiency. In 1982, he opened Greyston Bakery, giving the hard-to-employ a new chance at life. His open-door policy offered employment opportunities regardless of education, work history or past social barriers, such as incarceration, homelessness or drug use.

Out of this hiring policy a new and larger mission grew. Low-income apartments were built for the formerly homeless, providing housing for Bakery workers and their peers. Soon after, Greyston Child Care Center was founded to ensure that a lack of high-quality, low cost child care wouldn’t be a barrier to work. As the AIDS epidemic spread, Greyston responded by opening Issan House and the Maitri Center, providing housing and adult day health services for people living with HIV/AIDS. Growing awareness of health disparities for communities of color and growing concerns about the environment prompted the creation of the Community Gardens and Environmental Education program. Most recently, in response to the recession, which disproportionately impacted poor Yonkers residents, Greyston launched WD 2.0, a comprehensive workforce development program.

What originally began as a modest bakery has grown into a broad array of results-oriented, evidence-based programs and services designed to respond to the changing needs of Yonkers residents. We are proud to say that today, Greyston serves over 2,200 community members annually.

Our Founder

Spotlight on Roshi Bernie Glassman: Zen Master Bernie Glassman founded Greyston Bakery in 1982. His unique blend of visionary leadership, analytical acumen, and entrepreneurial vigor remain a cornerstone of Greyston’s operations. He is a world-renowned pioneer in the American Zen Movement and the founder of the Zen Peacemakers. He is a spiritual leader, published author, accomplished academic and successful businessman with a PhD in Applied Mathematics. Having spent decades teaching Zen and working in Socially Engaged Buddhism, he is now spending the early years of his ’70s giving workshops and serving in socially-engaged projects around the world. He still finds the time to spend a day a month at Greyston. For more on Roshi Bernie Glassman, visit Zen Peacemakers.

Greyston Milestones

1982: Greyston Bakery founded in the Bronx, NY by Roshi Bernard Glassman